As is known in the art, electrical cabinets are used to house an array of electrical components, such as telecommunications equipment and related components. An electrical cabinet permits components housed within the cabinet to be interconnected and also allows components within the cabinet to be connected to components outside the cabinet. The components housed within the cabinet often maintain or control telecommunications systems.
Typically, these types of cabinets are utilized in electrical technology. Generally, the frame of such a cabinet supports wires, cables, modules, as well as various other types of built-in and inserted components and forms the supporting structure for the cabinet. Typically, the housing of the cabinet is completed through the introduction of wall elements and a door. The housing visually contains the contents of the cabinet, effects mechanical protection and, if necessary, electromagnetic shielding.
Typically, administrators and technicians of a telecommunications systems contained within an electrical cabinet require regular access to components housed within the cabinet. The administrators desire such access to increase their ability to monitor a system's functions and/or to exert control over the housed system, while technicians desire such access to conduct repairs to the housed system.
When an electrical cabinet is assembled, components may be installed to provide administrators and technicians with access to monitor a system's functions and/or to exert control or repairs over the systems housed in such cabinet. However, current installation techniques are labor intensive, often including the attachment or machining of several parts. Therefore, to reduce costs, the cabinets are typically constructed as compactly as possible.
Moreover, due to the compact size of the cabinets for telecommunications systems, the access provided to components within electrical cabinets is inconvenient for the type of access desired. Current cabinets fail to provide quick and convenient regular access to stored components within electrical cabinets for telecommunications equipment and systems, since the compact size of current electrical cabinets tightly packs such equipment and systems.
An electrical cabinet of the type mentioned above is generally located outdoors, and typically provides some degree of protection for the telecommunications equipment and systems housed in the cabinet against inclement weather and outside interventions. Their use is increasingly frequent, and it is therefore necessary to reduce their implementation cost while preserving their protective and tamper-proof qualities.
Equipment cabinets for accommodating electronic components must meet a number of requirements as well. For example, these cabinets must have a high degree of mechanical strength, particularly with respect to stresses and during inclement weather, such as occurs during hurricanes, seismic disturbances, and the like. Furthermore, the required degree of accessibility for the housed components requires casing components that not only provide protection against dust and water but also against electromagnetic radiation.
In operation, electronic systems generate electrical signals in the form of radio frequency waves or electromagnetic radiation or both. If not properly shielded, these signals can interfere with the operation of unrelated equipment. Radio frequency interference (“RFI”) is interference from sources of energy outside of an electrical system. Electromagnetic interference (“EMI”) is interference, generally at radio frequencies, generated within the electrical system itself. To prevent EMI/RFI interference, governmental regulations and industry standards require that the sources of radio frequency or electromagnetic radiation within a system be shielded.
Additionally, sensitive electronic components must also be protected from more tangible forms of disruption. Other sources of disruption to the operation of electronics systems are moisture and foreign particles, such as dust. The presence of a substantial amount of either of these can corrode or otherwise impede electrical contacts.
In view of the high cost of initial acquisition and installation, there is a need to provide an extension cabinet for existing electrical cabinets for telecommunications equipment and systems that permits existing electrical cabinets to be modified and/or converted at minimum expense and effort, and that further includes the properties of existing electrical cabinets.